Free Solo

Wow. Wow wow wow. I impulse-bought tickets to watch the movie Free Solo at an Imax theatre last night, and it exceeded expectations. (Shout out to Coulson for joining me!) After reading Honnold's autobiography over break, it was captivating to watch him defy gravity in person on such a huge screen! Also, I felt super cool, understanding all his jargon about crimping, jugging, chossy rock and route beta ;)
I actually had my own chance to go climbing this week, Harvard students got free entry to a local climbing gym on Wednesday night! Really appreciated getting to know these two humans better, there are so many good people at this school. Also tried to go again at the campus gym yesterday, but it hasn't opened yet, so I took a lap on my bike up the frozen Charles instead.

This kind of ride also represents another aspect of my week, and second reason for the post title. It's been an adjustment going from a house/van full with my whole family, to living alone again. Not that I actually spend that much time alone, (even now, I'm sitting in our common room with my roommates and a few others watching the Super Bowl, and commiserating about classes starting for real tomorrow.) But I do sleep in a room by myself, and despite having heaps of incredible friends, I often end up needing to snag quick meals or study in the library by myself. However, despite the resemblance of that last sentence to Sid the sloth (link)...

...I quite enjoy it! Don't get me wrong, I'm a social person, and if I know I'm gonna be in the library for more than half an hour, I usually send out a few texts to invite other friends from the same classes to join me. But I also enjoy having time to listen to podcasts and my music, time to think and pray, and the solitude to do things in the most efficient way possible without worrying about other people keeping up. So in that sense, I guess I can see why Alex Honnold likes to free solo. In the words of some random famous person Google just told me about,

"In solitude the mind gains strength and learns to lean upon itself." -Laurence Sterne